Team Working To Make Sure OKC Survivor Tree Outlives Us All

The 100-year-old Survivor Tree at the Oklahoma City National Memorial is a symbol of hope and perseverance. Dr. Rosslyn Biggs, and her sisters lost their mother, Dr. Margaret "Peggy" Clark in the bombing of the Murrah Building, on April 19, 1995.

"Was actually at the FFA Contest, (judging contest) when we heard the news," Biggs said. "Regardless of what we found out, our lives were going to be drastically changed."

Her mom was on her way to Stillwater that day, but she had to stop at the USDA office first. Even though Clark has been gone for nearly 25 years, her daughters still cherish who their mother was.

"Most of all her love, her care, her commitment for us, and that kind of example as a parent. That we came before, really, anything else," said Biggs.

A sapling from the Survivor Tree is also helping keep Clark's memory alive. In the middle of all the destruction and chaos after the bombing, stood an American Elm. It was about 100 yards away from the Murrah Building, in a parking lot.

"It was in really poor condition. It lost, basically, half of its crown," said Mark Bays with the Oklahoma Forestry Service.

Bays, who now oversees the care of the Survivor Tree, immediately rushed to the scene from his downtown office, looking for ways to help. Over the next year, the course of Mark's career and life, changed forever.

"Early in spring, somebody - just like we're out here today - noticed that the tree's still green. There's some green on that tree. It survived," Mark said.

The Survivor Tree Seedling and Cloning Programs ensure that even when the treasured American Elm sees its final rebirth in spring, it will never truly die. Seeds, saplings and even some clone trees are carrying on the legacy of the Survivor Tree across our country. The saplings have been given out for years to survivors, victims' families, like Biggs, and to museums and memorials, even to Tulsa's world-class park, Gathering Place.

The year-old trees are grown from the seeds of the Survivor Tree, at a nursery in Clinton, Oklahoma. Biggs and her husband, presented US Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue with one of those saplings. The tree honors her mother who started working for the department in the year before the attack.

"It wasn't just a picture opportunity; he spent a considerable amount of time with us, learning more about Oklahoma," Rosslyn said.

Cloned Trees, on the other hand, are the literal future of the mother tree.

"The genetics of the tree, it's going to continue to outlive all of us," said Mark.

The cloned trees are created by cutting a twig from the Survivor Tree and grafting it to a seedling of the tree itself. One of those clones, possibly the one at Scissortail Park in Oklahoma City, will eventually be planted at the Memorial to take the place of the Survivor Tree, when it dies.

"It's just not just something that I can bring...it's the entire Forestry community," Mark said.

It's so much more than a tree, because it shoulders the responsibility of representing victims, survivors and first-responders.

"It still shows the scars, the scars are still with us, but we've continued on," Biggs said.

"The fact that it's witnessed so much and seen so much. I mean it's just beyond genetics," Bays said. "I think there's something spiritual about that. This tree could have just given up hope when they put up a parking lot around it, but it didn't. It survived."